Columbia, SC-- A South Carolina man, alerted to a fiery car crash near his home, was horrified to learn that his two-teenagers daughters were in the car.
Worse he could only save one of them.
The crash occurred last Friday after 14-year-old Shayla Andrews, a trumpet player, and her 17-year-old sister Joye performed at halftime in the in the Saluda HIgh School band.
The girls were driving to their home in Saluda, S.C., in their dad's car.
Not long after, says Earnest Andrews, the father, a neighbor knocked on his door to say there had been a car accident just a few feet away from the front door.
"I just took off running, cause the car was already in flames," the distraught father tells WLTX reporter Nate Stewart. " I was just in panic, I ran."
What he heard next, he says, he'll never be able to forget, WLTX reports.
"I hear my baby calling 'Daddy. Daddy!' I had to go in there and get her," Earnest says. "All I see what fire, and I know that was my car and my babies were in there. Both of my babies were in there. The only thing I know is I've got to try and get them out."
With the car in flames, he pulled Shayla to safety.
And when I went back to get Joye. "That's when the car exploded again," says.
Shayla says that when she woke up, she immediately called for her sister.
"They told me that she didn't make it," Shayla says. "She was just the nicest person. She had a crazy laugh. Her laugh would brighten up anybody's day and she had the biggest smile. She was my best friend. She kept my out of trouble."
It is not the only tragedy the Andrews family has faced, WLTX reports. In 2011, a third sister died in a car accident in Florida.
"I wish somebody would hit me and wake me up," says Earnest. "But it's for real. It's for real."
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Saluda High School will be accepting all donations for the family at their main office in Saluda. Their address is 160 Ivory Key Road. Office number: 864-445-3011. All money will go to a fund to help the family. Funeral costs are expected to be around $4,000. Any other special requests to help family need to go through principal Dr. Harvey Livingston.
WLTX